Meteor (film)

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Meteor
original film poster
Directed by	Ronald Neame
Written by	Stanley Mann Edmund H. North
Starring	Sean Connery Natalie Wood Karl Malden Brian Keith
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Running time	123 min
Language	English
Budget	$16,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Meteor (1979) is a film in which scientists detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and struggle with international, cold war politics in their efforts to prevent disaster. The movie starred Sean Connery.

It was directed by Ronald Neame and with a screenplay by Edmund H. North and Stanley Mann and co-starring Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Henry Fonda, and Johnny Yune.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

The opening sequence involves a crew of astronauts that observes a collision between a comet and an asteroid named Orpheus. The astronauts and their ship are then destroyed by a fragment from the collision. Back on Earth, Dr. Paul Bradley (Connery) is dragged reluctantly to the offices of his former boss Harry Sherwood (Malden). He is given an account about the doomed astronauts and it's explained that Orpheus is on a collision course with Earth.

While the United States government and military engage in political maneuvering, other smaller and faster moving fragments rain down on Earth. The major plot point involves secret orbiting nuclear missile platforms, one put up by Dr. Bradley's team for the U.S., named Hercules, and another constructed by his counterpart in the Soviet Union, nicknamed Peter the Great by Bradley. The American president (Fonda) is advised by military leaders against admitting the existence of Hercules; the Soviets are reluctant to admit to the existence of its orbital weapons; both reluctances stem from a violation of international treaties (unnamed in the film but presumably the Outer Space Treaty). Bradley left the U.S. project because he intended it to meet threats like Orpheus, but the military seized it as a strategic weapon.

The President goes on national television and reveals its existence, explaining it as a foresighted project to meet the threat that Orpheus represents; he also offers the Soviets a chance to save face and join in by saying they had the same foresight and have their own. Bradley requested a scientist named Dr. Alexei Dubov (Keith) to help him plan a countereffort against Orpheus, and the Soviets agree to send Dubov... for "discussions".

Bradley and Sherwood have already arrived at the control center for Hercules, which is located beneath the Bell System building in downtown New York; a subway tunnel enabled them to move equipment in without being noticed; the Bell building enables them to plug into a worldwide telecommunications network. Major-General Adlon (Landau) is the commander of the facility, and has been ordered by the president to accommodate Bradley and the Soviet scientist's presence.

Dubov and his assistant (and English voice), Tatiana Donskaya, arrive and Bradley works at breaking the ice of distrust held by Hercules commander Adlon. Since Dubov cannot admit the existence of the Soviet device, he agrees to Bradley's proposal that they work on the "theoretical" application of how a "theoretical" Soviet platform's weapons would be coordinated with the American ones.

Meanwhile, disaster affects the Earth. A fragment hits in far eastern Russia, as a frightened native family flees their home. Another group of smaller ones burns up over Italy. The Soviets finally admit at the UN that they have the device, claim theirs was put up before Hercules, and are willing to join in the effort. The satellite, christened Peter the Great by the joint US-Soviet team working at Hercules control, and Hercules are turned around to aim into space. Meanwhile, a catastrophic fragment impact in Switzerland devastates a ski lodge region.

A day before the missiles are to be launched, a fragment hits the ocean off Hong Kong; the wave stirred up by impact devastates Hong Kong. On Sunday morning, Peter the Great's missiles are fired off; because of its position along the orbit, Hercules is fired 40 minutes later. Moments before firing, Sir Michael Hughes at Jodrell-Bank Observatory, which has been monitoring the fragments, advises that a fragment is approaching the New York area. Bradley decides they'll wait because they can't fire early, even though, if they go out of action, nobody else can launch Hercules, and Peter's aren't enough firepower.

Hercules is launched, and a moment later, New York is laid waste by the fragment. The survivors of the control center slowly work their way out of what has become a trap, dealing with the river breaking into the subway tunnels. Meanwhile, the two sets of missiles are linking up into three waves of mixed nationality. The Hercules crew reach a subway station filled with other people and wait while others try to dig out.

The radio stations broadcast news of the result: Orpheus has been either obliterated or shifted to a harmless trajectory. Just then, the subway station occupants are rescued, and the sound of a jackhammer dissolves to a drum beat, as Dubov is seen off for his return home.